My mistake in renting this film did not realise it was a musical, even so I carried on watching but gave up after half hour. If you like musicals I suppose it's ok but I'm afraid I couldn't get into it.
As modern musicals go, and let's face it nothing compares to Rogers and Hammerstein this is a good effort but why oh why didn't it finish at the 'happy ending' point? Instead Disney decided to add a completely unnecessary 30 odd minutes on to the film which puts a total dampener on things. Watch, enjoy and stop and eject at the marriage scene and you will have a lovely family fun movie.,
OMG how long did the opening song last? It was like a duracell battery it went on and on then just when you thought it was over and they were in the woods it started again so hence to say that was the end of the film for me what a shame because i think i might have enjoyed ithad they not dragged it out.
Into the Woods is another Hollywood attempt to revive the classics and make it attractive to modern audiences. Normally this wouldn’t be a criticism, but in this instance, it certainly is. I give it two out of five stars, because while I have seen films that were much worse, I wouldn’t watch this film more than once.
The film follows a young baker and his wife, who appeal to a witch to allow them to have a baby. The witch agrees to lift the curse in place, but only if they go on an adventure to bring back four key items; each from a different common fairytale. However, even procuring these items doesn’t give them a happily ever after, and everyone must find what they really want in life.
It is becoming more and more clear that Hollywood are out of film ideas, and are content to remake any old story and slap once-popular actors in it. I’m not saying every instance of this has been cringeworthy, but this one certainly was.
The musical element wasn’t too bad, but, again, I think they fell way short of what they wanted to achieve. It did, however, manage to strike a good content and theme balance so it would be appealing to children and their parents/guardians.
One positive thing I can say, is that I did like the creative combining of the classic tales.
This film boasts a lot of well-known actors, yet they couldn’t make this film interesting. To me, they are almost all overrated, and their names being attached to the project is probably the only thing that got it made. Into the Woods features Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, Anna Kendrick, Chris Pine, among many others. But, perhaps the most overrated, is one Johnny Depp. While once a respectable actor, he is now popular for being popular, and a lot of his roles could have been better cast.
The effects were probably the main attraction of this film. Effects were near flawless, but even this sometimes became distracting, with too much going on.
Critic and audience reviews have been quite average. It has received more positive reviews than I thought it would, but there must have been a good reason why it took so long to get this film’s production off the ground.
Overall, while this film isn’t the worst you can see, there are a lot of other films I would recommend over this one. Two out of five stars, and I hope Johnny Depp realises soon that he doesn’t need to be in every film.